Rose & Dimitri Oneshot
by Serendipity Finch
Summary: Just a little thing I found from way back when. Set after the caves, if Dimitri had survived. Not much else to say.


I had only seen Dimitri hesitate once before, in the cabin, that precious moment that seemed like a lifetime ago. But he was exhausted, no guardian had fought as hard as he had today, and the Strigoi had the element of surprise. As they grappled, i realised with a shock that I knew this Strigoi. He was the blonde male who had spoken to me during the invasion. Dimitri sought vainly to find an opening to get his stake in but the Strigoi was wary. Suddenly the Strigoi lunged, fangs beared, aiming for Dimitri's neck. Even Dimitri's lightning reflexes were sorely tested as he tried to block the lunge. The Strigoi's outstretched, clawed hands caught Dimitri full in the chest and sent him flying backwards against the wall of the cave with an audible thud. Slowly, arrogantly, the Strigoi swaggered over a triumphant smile on his face. Realising what he intended to do, I ripped free of the hands restraining me and ran towards Dimitri and the Strigoi, ignoring the cries of the other guardians and my mother. "Hey, blondie! Are you as dumb as you look?" The Strigoi turned, snarling at me. Taking my chances, I circled him, putting myself between him and Dimitri. The Strigoi looked irritated, "Step aside, girl, and I'll let you live," he snarled.

"Why would you do that, what's so special about him? He's just another dhampir to you," I hissed. The Strigoi threw back his head and gave a short derisive laugh, "Ha, funny! Now step aside girl, if you know what's good for you. We're only after Dimitri." I tried to keep the shock from my face. _We're_ only after Dimitri? Steeling myself for the oncoming fight, I said flatly, "No." Looking over his shoulder I could see the group of guardians had taken out the seven Strigoi that had ambushed us at the T junction. Stan and Alberta had seen my predicament and were running over to assist me. Turning my full attention back to blondie, I snarled, "If you want him so badly, come and get him!"

Blondie feinted to my right, and I moved with him to keep myself between him and Dimitri. I was grateful that he had landed up against the wall, it gave me one less thing to worry about, and it was a hell of a lot easier than having to defend Dimitri on all sides. The Strigoi lunged at me again, sending a punch flying at my head. It was a wild one, and I ducked it easily. His lack of fighting skill reaffirmed my suspicion that he had been human before being turned. Grinning, I mocked him, "Is that the best you can manage, huh Blondie?" He snarled wordlessly back at me, and backed off slightly, circling. After a few seconds I saw an opening and lunged, aiming my stake at his heart. Unfortunately he saw it coming and dodged, but not enough. My stake grazed up the entire left side of his ribcage and he screamed in agony. "Better, but not quite good enough!" I panted, repositioning myself in front of Dimitri while I glanced over the Strigoi's shoulder to see how far away Alberta and Stan were. Fortunately they were only a few meters away, but where both battling a Strigoi who had suddenly appeared, seemingly out of thin air. As I watched Alberta sized her chance and sprung, staking the Strigoi in a textbook perfect move. Pausing only a fraction of a second to make sure he was really dead, they both continued towards me. Blondie turned to see what I was staring at and saw the two older guardians running towards and immediately assessed them to be the greater threat. Bad choice on his part. As he turned to face them and lowered himself into a fighting stance, I readjusted my grip on my stake and thrust it as hard as I could into his back, aiming for where I thought his heart would be. It was a lucky shot. Blondie fell forward screaming, my stake sticking out of his back, buried nearly to the handle. As I reached forward to tug it free, I saw the open shock and admiration showing on Stan and Alberta's faces.

"Roza…" I whirled around as I heard a husky whisper behind me, laced with the accent I knew so well. Dimitri was a sight to behold. The entire right side of his shirt and duster was torn and covered in vivid red blood, and I was pretty damn sure that Strigoi didn't bleed. Behind his slightly wavering guardian mask, I could see the pain in the chocolate brown eyes that I loved. I knelt beside him, cradling his head in my lap, "Shh comrade, it's all gonna be okay. Just keep looking at me; don't you close your eyes now, okay?" God he was pale, so pale. I stroked his hair and murmured his name over and over as I felt the tears well up in my eyes. Dimitri reached up and curled a lock of my hair around his finger in that familiar gesture that always made me lose my breath. "Roza, my Roza. So beautiful. You are my saviour," he whispered hoarsely. I felt a tear roll down my cheek as his eyelids fluttered weakly. It fell and landed on his forehead. Dimitri's eyes renewed their focus on me, "Don't cry Roza, I'll be okay."

"You better be," I mumbled, leaning down and burying my face in his chest, ignoring the gore and still managing to find his warm comforting scent amongst the smells of death and despair.

I startled when I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Alberta, "Come on, help us carry him out." I stood slowly, supporting his head and shoulder, while Stan held him delicately under his torso and Alberta took his long, gangly legs. "Quickly now, there might still be Strigoi in these caves," Alberta murmured, a note of urgency in her voice. We quickened our pace, and after what seemed like eternity we stepped out into the late afternoon sunlight. Safe at last. Seeing us carrying an obviously injured person, helpers rushed over, guiding us to one of the guardian vans that had been rigged up as a sort of ambulance. Never before in my life had I been so glad to see Dr Olendzki. She looked shocked to see Dimitri like this. As we placed him on a stretcher, she gently pulled aside Dimitri's torn and bloodstained clothing to reveal three long, ragged cuts running up the right side of his ribcage on a slight angle. I gasped quietly when I saw the horrific sight, and Alberta gave me comforting look. I felt nauseous just looking at Dimitri's wounds, but I could not bring myself to look away. After a few minutes of tense anticipation, Dr Olendzki turned and gave me a weary smile, "He'll need stiches and he will be quite sore for a while, but there won't be any lasting damage, except for some pretty impressive scars." As she spoke I could hear the fatigue in her voice. Stan's head poked around the corner "Are you alright to head off?" he asked the doctor, giving Alberta and I a cursory nod of recognition. Dr Olendzki gave a distracted nod, as she fussed away over another patient in the back of the van. Stan retreated and the door swung closed with a solid thud. The van rocked slightly as Stan climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine. The slight motion seemed to shake Dimitri back into consciousness. "Roza, are you okay?" his murmured, voiced strained from the pain. Unable to restrain a sob, I leant forward and pressed a kiss on his forehead, not caring who saw. "I thought I'd lost you!" I sobbed as Dimitri reached out and pulled me closer to him, stroking my hair. "I would never leave you, I promised, remember," he whispered into my ear, voice full of love. I nodded, slightly hysterical, against him. My breath hitched in my chest as I spoke, "I love you, don't ever do that to me again!"

"It's okay, hush now Roza, hush."

When we finally reached the academy it was almost dark. Dimitri was taken straight to the clinic, and I followed closely. As we reached the entrance I was nearly bowled over by a hysterical figure yelling my name, "ROSE! Oh my God, you're okay, you're okay! I was so worried about you…hey what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, just a little out of it after the battle. Have you seen Eddie? Is he okay?" I asked, trying to direct the conversation away from me. Lissa smiled and nodded, one arm still loosely wrapped around me. I smiled back relieved. My friend and fellow guardian Eddie had been one of the group of Moroi and Dhampirs who had been taken to the caves by the Strigoi. We had had a special connection ever since the incidence with the Strigoi that had gotten Mason killed. I was glad he was okay. "Where's Dimitri?" Lissa asked, tilting her head to one side and brushing strands of platinum blonde hair out of her eyes. I hesitated, "He, well he got injured pretty badly. They're stitching him up right now. He'll be okay though, no lasting damage."

"Oh, I'm sorry Rose; I know how close you two are."

Did she ever. On a spur of the moment decision, I said to her, "Hey Liss, um can we talk please?"

Looking slightly confused she replied, "Yeah, sure. You can tell me anything, you know that."

Walking over to an empty corner in the clinic, I sat down on a chair, motioning for Lissa to do likewise. Taking a deep breath I said, "Dimitri and I, we're together."

"What do you mean, 'together'?"

"Dating, seeing each other, whatever tickles your fancy. Together."

I felt Lissa's shock filter through the bond, even as she tried to hide it from me. "What? Since when? Tell me everything!" Lissa's shock quickly became excitement as she looked at me. Wow, this was awkward. "Um, well, I've kinda had a crush in him ever since we got back to the academy. I didn't think he felt the same way. But then, on the night you got kidnapped? Well, Victor's necklace didn't make us fight each other. It was a lust charm, and a strong one. We were about to go all the way when Dimitri took the necklace and realised something was up. That why I took so long to get to you. It was all part of his grand scheme. For a while after that I thought that it was only because of the charm that Dimitri had been all over me but then, when I spoke to Victor in prison, he told me that the spell never would have worked if there hadn't been something between us."

_***Flashback***_

"_Why Rose, what a nice surprise. Your ingenuity never fails to impress me. I didn't think they'd allow me any visitors."_

_I crossed my arms, trying to put on a look of total guardian fierceness. "I want you to break the spell. Finish it off"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_The spell you did on Dimitri and me"_

"_That spell is done. It burned itself out."_

_I shook my head. "No. I keep thinking about him. I keep wanting to…"_

_He smiled knowingly when I didn't finish. "My dear, that was already there, long before I set that up._

"_It wasn't like this. Not this bad."_

"_maybe not consciously. But everything else…the attraction-physical and mental-was already in you. And in him It wouldn't have worked otherwise. The spell didn't really add anything new-it just removed inhibitations and strengthened the feeling you already had for each other."_

"_You're lying. He said he didn't feel that way about me."  
"He's lying. I tell you, the spell wouldn't have worked otherwise."_

_***End Flashback***_

I sighed at the memory. Victor had talked his impressionable daughter Natalie into turning Strigoi to help him escape, but Dimitri had arrived just in time, stopping Natalie from killing me and preventing Victor's escape. I continued with my explanation, "I confronted him about it later, and he admitted that he felt the same way about me but said that we couldn't be together because of guardian issues. He said that he wouldn't be able to protect you properly if he was going to let himself love me. That he would throw himself in front of me if a Strigoi attacked instead of you."

Lissa smiled comfortingly at me. "I'm surprised that I never noticed it before. You two always seemed so close, but I always thought of it as some sort of guardian mentor thing. Silly me."

"It's okay. Neither of us we really open about it, just a few stolen kisses here or there in the heat of the moment. Well, that was until before the attack…." I trailed off, embarrassed for going so far. Lissa squealed in excitement. "Omigod, omigod! What happened? Tell me, please!" heat.

I laughed with her, but my cheeks flushed red, I could feel the heat building up. "Um, well you know…" again I trailed off awkwardly. Lissa jumped forward and wrapped her arms around me. "Oooh! I'm so happy for you, both of you!" she squealed in my ear. I winced slightly at the noise in my extra sensitive ear. Lissa leaned away again. "Oops! Sorry, Dhampir ears, I forgot."

Any further conversation was interrupted by Dr Olendzki walking over to us. "Princess," she said to Lissa, bowing slightly, before turning to me with a smile, "Guardian Belikov is all stitched up now, but I'm going to have to ask you to assist him back to his room, we need the beds in the ward for the more seriously injured patients. I'll also need you to keep an almost constant eye on him, make sure there are no problems that pop up over the next few days or so. Other than that I think Guardian Belikov will be fine."

I sighed in relief. "Thank you doctor, I don't know what this school would do without you."

Dr Olendzki smiled ruefully back at me. "I'm just doing my best, Rose."

I slowly walked over to Dimitri's bedside, and as I did I felt Lissa's voice in my head. _Goodnight, I'll leave you to it. Sleep well._ I turned around and nodded and smiled wearily at her. It had been a long day, but I knew there would be one more battle to come before I could get some long deserved rest.

"I can walk, I don't need a wheelchair!"

"I'm sorry Comrade; I must have gotten you mixed up with your alter ego who nearly got killed today."

"Haha, very funny Rose!"

"You're not walking anywhere!"

"Roza really, I'm fine, I'll make it to my room on my own two legs!"

"You're so damn stubborn! What's so bad about taking a bloody wheelchair?"

"Nothing. Plus there's stairs."

"Fine, but only if I get to stay in your room tonight. The good doctor did say that I was to keep a close eye on you, but she didn't specify how close…" I giggled evilly, entwining my hand in his.

Dimitri sighed, giving my hand a squeeze. "Okay, okay. Just no wheelchair."

I smiled at his stubbornness. "Yeah yeah, whatever. No wheelchair, fine with me then."

Ten torturous minutes later we finally stood inside Dimitri's room. He winced slightly as he sat down on the bed. Frowning, I walked over and sat next to him. "Hey, are you okay?"

He nodded. "Fine, just a little sore." I pushed him down onto the bed gently by his shoulders, and he complied, swing his long legs onto the bed as well. I carefully unbuttoned the soft black shirt to reveal the bandages that wrapped around his torso, covering the stitches. Pulling it out from underneath him, I stood and went to place it over a lone armchair that stood off in one corner. Then, walking over to his cupboard, I riffled through its contents until I found something to my liking. It was a white T-shirt, one of Dimitri's few casual pieces of clothing. Stripping of until I stood only in my panties, I pulled Dimitri's shirt over my head, pausing momentarily to inhale his heady scent that still clung to the soft fabric. I turned when I heard quiet murmur of appreciation. "Mmm, that suites you. You should wear my clothes more often." Dimitri lay on the bed, propped up by pillows, with an unfamiliar hungry look on his face. I walked over to the bed, surprised to find myself blushing. I was obviously not used to him being so forward. Dimitri was usually the quiet one, with me the forward one. Now, with our roles suddenly and unexpectedly reversed, I was surprised and a little awkward. I had never really been on the receiving end of any sincere compliments before. Sure, guys had complimented me heaps before, but never anything more than shallow, sometimes derogatory remarks that hadn't really meant anything. Even Adrian with his constant flirting had never been anything more than a bit of a laugh for me, even though I was fairly sure that he meant it by now. But coming from Dimitri it was something different, and I loved it.

I slowly walked over to the


End file.
